In conversation with: Finetune
We had an in-depth interview with the Moscow based artist in sight of the release of “The Inner Space” LP. Read the conversation and listen to our exclusive premiere from the album
Today we are proud to introduce you a delightfully intimate and imaginative work “The Inner Space” LP by Finetune. Hailing from Moscow, Michael Dop aka Finetune is one of the founders of the label and community Slowdance, a project fostering sophisticated and enthralling sounds with a surrounding fascinating aura. It’s no surprise that this full-length release lingering between minimal beats and ambient textures adds an interesting touch to every single track, escaping banal solutions in favour of unpredictable structures and sounds. Moreover, the album is presented by an outstanding work of visual art: over 300 record sleeves were painted to form a single giant piece of art, which you can see in the picture above. We have a chat with Finetune and ask him a few questions about the release’s style and production choices, as well as his other activities and interests.
We are also proud to exclusively share the track “Pena Dnei” in full which we recommend to listen to while exploring what the artist has to say:
Hello Michael, it’s so nice to meet you and introduce you to our readers at Guerrilla Bizarre with this wonderful double LP for Slowdance. We have a few questions regarding the album and its themes, as well as some other topics.
The track progression choice is very peculiar on the release, advancing from cinematic and atmospheric pieces into minimal beats and a deep dancefloor mood in the second record. How did you decide on this? Was this the initial concept of the album or is it something you developed while producing it?
Yes, that was the original concept of the album — I just want to do something that reflects different sides of me.
The influences on the record are various and refined. We can hear elements touching jazz and classical music as well as a great work on electronic synthesis. Can you name us 3 (or more) LPs that majorly influenced you on the production of this record?
Thank you for being so deeply immersed in my music, I really appreciate it! Here are some of my favorite artists and some of their work, where I can always find a new dose of inspiration:
• Steve Reich - Music for 18 musicians
• Sidsel Endresen + Bugge Wesseltoft - Duplex Ride
• Aphex Twin - Syro
• Bjork - Utopia
• Nils Frahm - Wintermusik
In terms of live instruments, which were recorded for the LP? Do you think the integration of live instruments is essential to make electronic music interesting, or are the means of production not influential by themselves?
It seems to me that any music becomes interesting when its creator is passionate and inspired by what he does, and works to create something new and interesting, and experiments beyond their own boundaries. In this album, I used piano, kalimba, marimba and various percussion instruments. I really like the process of recording live instruments, it adds a bit of breath and liveliness to the compositions.
“I realized that when we listen to ourselves, we are actually listening to the absolute and thus we get an infinite source of inspiration, a bit later I decided to make a performance around this idea.”
A more format-related technical question - where is the choice of dividing the release compositions into vinyl and digital formats coming from? Was it out of necessity or does it depend on the composition of the single pieces and how they should be enjoyed?
I originally planned to release the album on only two records, but it ended up with more tracks, and some were quite long, so I decided to release them digitally.
You did an amazing job on the cover as well, hand pairing over 300 record sleeves to make one large piece of art! How did you get the idea for this? How long did it take you to finish the whole thing?
My Aikido teacher once said that we don't have separate souls and that we have one that unites all people. This made such a deep impression on me that I realized that when we listen to ourselves, we are actually listening to the absolute and thus we get an infinite source of inspiration, a bit later I decided to make a performance around this idea.
It took 4 years from the moment of the idea to write the album to its release. The idea to make an art performance around the album came to me after the musical part was almost finished, about two and a half years ago. And then it was very difficult to make it live, sometimes it even seemed impossible. We were trying to find some special place for it, and the first idea was to make it in some open space so that we could shoot it from a drone to show the whole picture. We also needed to find financial support, because the project was really expensive. I also wanted to do it publicly and with a single take, so it took time to develop and think through everything, and when it was almost done in March 2020, the pandemic started, and we didn't have the opportunity to send the painted sleeves from Moscow to Paris to our distributor. Now it's finally done, and I'm really happy and grateful to everyone who was involved and helped me make it live!
“I feel like I'm projecting my inner world onto my art, but at the same time, I don't feel walls or boundaries where my inner world connects to the whole space and spiritual realm.”
You wear different hats as an artist, designer, DJ and music producer. How do these roles differ for you? Do you feel like you express something similar in your art when doing significantly different things like visual arts and music, or do these move parallel for you?
For a long time, this happened in parallel, later I even thought of giving up something to focus on one thing, and this was a difficult period in my life. But then I realised that since I have different skills and people need them, I need to learn how to combine all this and find a connection between different, at first glance, manifestations of art. This decision helped me a lot in my life and also inspired me to create an artistic performance for the album.
In your opinion, how does the artistic and actual persona differ? Do you feel like you are presenting your own self through your art or are you projecting something different every time?
I feel like I'm projecting my inner world onto my art, but at the same time, I don't feel walls or boundaries where my inner world connects to the whole space and spiritual realm. I mean, I'm just a vessel through which the energy of the cosmos flows, which I turn into creativity, and all my strengths and weaknesses color it and make it unique, it gives me a new experience and opens me up.
In terms of themes, with this release you explore the concept of the soul. It’s a very interesting topic despite the occasional ephemeral neo-spiritualist redundancies you hear around (at least in the 'the west'). We’d like to ask in specific how do this relate to music for you - is music a way to express someone’s innate inner soul? Or do you feel it’s more of a way someone’s soul is constructed through a set of actions (such as playing an instrument, producing music in the studio, etc.)?
I believe that we live more than one life, and the skills that we are born with or that we successfully learn are some potential accumulated in the past. It seems to me that writing music itself can come from different purposes, but in the end, at the moment when we feel inspired, we tune in to some special vibrations, we synchronize with the Universe, but what precedes this, how to influence it?
“It seems to me that music and any kind of creativity is an imprint of our experience, material and spiritual, this is what people need to know themselves.”
For example, Kurt Cobain hated his parents and his life, and it was so strong and honest that it did not leave many people indifferent because we all feel pain and suffer. On the contrary, Bob Marley united everyone with the energy of love and peace and with the help of music was able to bring peace where politicians and diplomats were already powerless. It seems to me that music and any kind of creativity is an imprint of our experience, material and spiritual, this is what people need to know themselves. Through compositions, paintings etc they live the experience of other people, finding in it reflections of themselves, identifying themselves and ultimately receiving their own experience.
The last year has, of course, been different from any other we experienced. Specifically for the Moscow-based organisation, you run, Slowdance, how did things change? Without events happening, what is the collective focusing on at the moment?
In Moscow, strict restrictions were only from March to August. I was working on my next album and spending time with my family, it was a really good time for me. At the end of July, the government began to ease restrictions as the virus situation began to stabilize, so we had the opportunity to organize the 12th anniversary of Slowdance and participate in the Signal festival. It was a really powerful time because the energy of the whole summer was compressed into one month.
Towards winter, restrictions returned and all-night events in Moscow were cancelled, at which point we focused on planning events for the next year.
Thank you so much for your time, a real pleasure to have you on Guerrilla Bizarre!! And good luck with everything concerning the album.
Thank you for such thoughtful questions, it was very interesting to talk to you!
